Meeting with Phil & Betty Towler. Back to Tokyo to ride a fancy Sleeping
car "Hokutosei"可児市でタウラー御夫婦を訪問。寝台急行北斗星個室で再度北海道へ

We left Kagoshima on Tuesday afternoon, and traveled by Shinkansan through
Hiroshima to all the way to Osaka where we got another sleeping car, which
was like a bad movie. "Buried alive"? "Asleep among the
dead"? I was awake from 3AM until we left that rolling slum at about
6:30AM. 三段式の寝台車もやはりジョンにはかなりきつかった。朝3時から起きていたようだが、身動きがとれないので、そのまま寝ていたとか。直江津でローカルに乗り換え長野へ。長野から名古屋に行く特急ワイドビューしなので多治見まで。多治見から太多線で可児市、タウラー御夫婦を訪問。

Police Orchestra @ Nagano station長野駅構内で警察の楽団演奏

Conductors on the Limited express特急乗務の車掌さんたち

two Buddhism monksお坊さん二人

With Phil & Betty Towlerタウラー御夫婦と

To make our connections work, Hiromi had plotted a route through Nagano
where the Winter Olympics were held back in 1998, and leaving Nagano we
hurried toward Kani city, where we met with fellow missionaries from Tulsa,
Phil & Betty Towler. They were wonderful hosts. Betty prepared a feast
and we had a great time of fellowship, Back on the train to Nagoya to get
another bullet train, this time to Tokyo, where we made a really cool move.
Hiromi booked us on a train from Tokyo to Ueno, only a six minute trip,
but from Ueno we were able o grab a sleeping COMPARTMENT, which was the
best rest I have had since Saturday night in Fujisawa! The compartments
are compact, but comfortable. We were also able to watch a full length
movie (Robin Hood with Russell Crowe) in the lounge car. They had a dining
car on this train, but we elected to eat another prepared dinner, alone
in our little compartment. Very romantic!